Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-05-25
The New Market For silver.

the director of the mint at Washington,
does not know everything that there is
to be known about silver. He says that
the plan of listing silver certificates on
the New York stock exchange, and of
dealing in silver as brokers deal in
stocks, bonds, wheat, cotton, and PEE
troleum, will not work, because the
price OF silver is made in London aud
not in New York. Might one inquire
why London, which produces no silver
and consumes next to none, which is
merely place through which
silver passes in transit, should make
the price, instead of the COM
mercial center of the country which is
the largest producer and consumer of
silver in the world! 1t would be inter
esting to have Mr.. Kimball's answer to
this question. In the meantime, we
may very respectfully suggest that Lon
don has heretofore made the price of
silver, because it has been the habit of
Mexico and South America to ship their
silver to that port, and likewise because
a great consumer of silver-British In
dia-has drawn its bullion supplies from
the same port. 1t became the controll.
ing market by accident, and now that
the price of silver concerns this country
much more largely than Great Britain,
there is no good reason why it should
not be represented by our chief COM
mercial city.
The mere fact of listing silver certifi-
Gates on the New York Stock Exchange
would make New York the controlling
market, because it would be an open
market in which buyer and seller, bull
and bear, would meet openly, on equal
terms, and the price would be fixed by
supply and demand, instead of being
made, as now, by the manipulation of q
few bankers and brokers in the city of
London. The time was when English
cities controlled the price of American
wheat, cotton and provisions; now the
price Of those commodities are fixed by ex-
changes in New York. and European quo.
tations merely exercise the influence
which distant markets always exert on
each other. If the New York bankers
can manage to have silver bullion repre-.
sented on change by certificates, either
through the mint or, perhaps what
might be better, through the agency of
a trust, as is the case with petroleum at
present, the London quotation of silver
will cease to be of any consequence; it
will be the New York quotation that
business men will want to see. The
sales of Mexican dollars or bullion in
London, and of India Council bills,
would be predicted on the Wall sire ct
quotations of that day.
1t is singular that this solution OF a
vexed question had not occurred to some
one before. The effect of speculative
transactions in silver cannot be but to
advance the price. The margin for profil
ON short sales at present prices is SC
small, and the margin for profit on pur-
chases for the rise so large, no prudent
operator would sell at 434d when the
quotations only few years ago was God
| It would only be question of time wher
the ounce would be worth over sod in Lon
don, and it might, under the influences
of speculation, be advanced in thi
country to the prices of lS7S-8l, So,
Al. Is to Sl.lS. The effect of this woul,
be to end the controversy about the sill
yer dollar. The West could not but b
satisfied, and the East would have n
excuse for complaining if the gold valu
| OF the silver dollar was aDOuJ the sam
as it was when the present ratio betwee
gold and silver was adjusted. The gol
= monom etalists would lind their vocatio
l gone.
8 OF the effect of an advance of ten {
q fifteen cents an ounce in the price {
silver on the prosperity of this coast it
unnecessary to enlarge. Our product {
silver in this State is steadily increasing
j. 1t is probably not now less than $5, 900
If 900 year. What the production of Il
" Washoe mines will be this year it is di
\ ficult to say, but good authorities pr
a dict that it will not fall short of $l5
~ ~ OOO, 900, of which one. half is silver.
= this must be added the product of Al
" IONA. Altogether we may count ON
yield of not less than $4,000, 900
Dr. 1887. Ten cents an ounce on this wou
D, be something like million and q hi
$. clean gain. If the new departure is
g. lead to this result, this section Of t
il. country will be pleased to have it trie
IFS. f. Call.